Written by

DAVE WEIDIG

Sports Editor

West Muskingum beat Tri-Valley at its own game Friday night, and seized the Muskingum Valley League lead in the process.

Using dribble penetration, pinpoint passing and aggressive defense, the unbeaten Tornadoes turned an 11-0 fourth-quarter run into a 45-42 victory over the two-time defending league champs before a Ankrum Memorial Gymnasium crowd thinned out a bit by over an hour power outage.

Those who stuck around until the 8:40 p.m. start, and most of them did, were treated to another well-played contest between the neighboring rivals, as West improved to 6-0 and dropped the visiting Scotties to 4-1 in the conference and 6-1 overall.

"Most of our kids hadn't seen much varsity action until this year, except Wes Kanavel, but I thought they responded very well in a big game," said elated West head coach Todd McLoughlin. "We communicated well defensively, and on offense, were able to take advantage of their double-teams and help (defense) to create some mismatches.

"They killed us on the offensive boards the first half, and the big thing was, we limited them to one shot most of the second half. I'm really proud of our kids. We got a lot of contributions from a lot of people."

Neither team scored for the final 4:30 of the third quarter in the defensive battle after Aaron Shumaker drilled a three from the right wing to push Tri-Valley ahead 30-27.

Adam Bice powered his way inside to start the fourth and put the Dawgs up 32-27, but West then put on an interior passing clinic, hitting all seven of its shots down the stretch with most of them coming within eight feet of the basket.

Multi-talented sophomore Josh Osborn, who can play inside and out, triggered the winning run with an off-balance baseline jumper, then heady Tyler Hardcastle drove the lane for another basket. After Wade Smith canned a free throw, Osborn drove the baseline for another short jumper to put the Tornadoes ahead for good 34-32. He then turned around and assisted Nate Shumate on a layup, and Shumate returned the favor to Smith as West surged ahead 38-32 midway through the fourth.

Hardcastle had a nice assist to Smith for a hook shot, Osborn scored on another baseline drive and Smith dropped in another two foul shots with 58 seconds as the Tornadoes led 44-38. But the Scotties wouldn't go quietly.

West missed a one-and-one and Tri-Valley got within 44-42 with 27 seconds, as Chip Strock scored from the lane and Bice stuck in a rebound shot, but missed the foul shot that would have made it a one-point game. After another missed one-and-one, the Dawgs had a chance to tie and took a timeout with 13.7 seconds. But Strock's off-balance jumper was off the mark and Shumate corralled the loose ball with .1 seconds, hitting one of two free throws to end it.

The Tornadoes won despite making just nine of 19 at the line and 0-5 on threes, but the Scotties never scored from the line and got only three attempts.

"We didn't shoot foul shots well, but we did a lot of other things well and I have to be happy with that," McLoughlin said.

It was a first half of missed opportunities for Tri-Valley, which crashed the offensive boards and took 28 shots to the Tornadoes' 15, but made only 11 while West connected on nine for 60 percent in forging a 24-24 halftime tie. The Tornadoes hit two buzzer-beaters, one on a Shumate rebound just ahead of the first-quarter buzzer and another when Hardcastle went coast-to-coast with a steal for the halftime deadlock.

Twice the Scotties looked poised to take control in the second quarter, but West responded both times. Curt Cameron's baseline drive put Tri-Valley ahead 18-13, but Aaron Dailey hit a pair of jumpers to keep the Tornadoes close. The Dawgs then missed a breakaway layup off a steal ahead 22-18. The 6-8 Kanavel, playing with his broken right thumb heavily wrapped, scored off a loose ball and Hardcastle had his tying steal.

Osborn's 15 points and two assists, Smith's nine points, Kanavel's seven rebounds and Hardcastle's four assists paced West Muskingum, a strong 18 of 34 from the field for 53 percent. Miles Nessline came off the bench to scrap for six rebounds and Hardcastle and Shumate added five apiece, while Shumate, Jon Merriweather and Kanavel each pitched in with two assists.

Bice scored 16 points before fouling out with 23.5 seconds left, while Strock was limited to seven and Jordan Ayres had just one basket. The Dawgs were an uncharacteristic 20 of 50 from the floor for 40 percent.

Justin Hittle and Troy Scott notched 10 points each for West Muskingum, but Tri-Valley held on for a 31-30 reserve victory, right before the lights went out.